Letters to the Editor
LeCastor
Published Letters: 1916 Editor's Choice: 86
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Sex Offender Registry: Public Indecency
[Read the article: No punishment too severe?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]One lucky winner in the federal database is guilty of public indecency in Connecticut. What is he guilty of?
"Sec. 53a-186. Public indecency: Class B misdemeanor. (a) A person is guilty of public indecency when he performs any of the following acts in a public place: (1) An act of sexual intercourse as defined in subdivision (2) of section 53a-65; or (2) a lewd exposure of the body with intent to arouse or to satisfy the sexual desire of the person; or (3) a lewd fondling or caress of the body of another person. For the purposes of this section, "public place" means any place where the conduct may reasonably be expected to be viewed by others.
(b) Public indecency is a class B misdemeanor."
So, i'm assuming that if he patted his wife's butt, he could be convicted of this. What exactly is a "lewd caress"?
You hysterians have gone too far.
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It seems we all agree on the public urinator and statutory rape
[Read the article: No punishment too severe?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]But unforntunately, we are not any state's legislative body, we are the salon letters. And no politician is going to stand up for sex offenders. Somehow our laws have gotten to this extreme state, where public urination has to be registered, but there's very little chance they will ever change. It's so easy to pile on sex offenders -- they are our pariahs, especially for politicians with no other ideas.
What also bothers me is statements like these:
"SOme people have no remorse and can not be rehabilitated. For that small population, life sentences are probably appropriate."
Well,
(a) that's what those 3 strike laws are about. Life sentence for stealing golf clubs.
(b) There are many other crimes for which a section of the perpatrator shows no remorse -- for example, possession of marijuana. Life sentence there too?
(c) Who decides this serious question? Which branch of the government are we going to trust to decide that someone is so unremorseful and has no chance of rehalibilitation that we shoudl just take their whole life away and let them die in prison? Would we offer any psychotherapy to them in prison? What about an option for death penalty?
"Certain classes of murders (those with particularly vicious elements) should also get life sentences. SOme people are sociopaths and can not be cured. I would rather have them behind bars than preying on other people."
See, it's exactly this kind of talk that will never have anyone stand up "for sex offenders" and say that public urination should not be a registry-worthy offense. Yes, certain classes of particularly vicious murders and drug dealing to get life sentences -- but, and i'm speaking pretty generally here since i am not familiar with the laws of each and every state, those are the only offenses for which you have life sentence.
People seem to me missing a few things here:
(1) I wholeheartedly believe that the vast majority of child molesters are mentally ill/unstable, and it's a mental disease, not a heartless cold-blooded crime. IT's a compulsion.
(2) We are so frightened of any sight of male genitalia that we criminalize all of it. Public urination, flashing/indecent exposure, people having sex in the bushes in the park, it's all super-taboo for us because it involves dick. What's the difference between seeing someone's dick and someone's hand? It's all mental, it's all shame and taboo, it's all societal, not physiological. And "what about the children"? Parents act as if their kids are going to be children forever, that they don't know curse words, don't know what sex is, don't know what penises are, but if your kids are 10 or older, they probably do, and eventally, they will see a penis. Get over it.
(3) Compare these two crimes: (a) a male child molester grabs a female 10-year-old's butt once on the playground, (b) daddy beats the shit out of his son/daughter for years. What's worse? Which child is harmed more? Who's the worse criminal? Who deserves to be punished more? And yet, you know who's going to be punished more, who will have to register in a registry, and turn out his lights on halloween.